Posts Tagged: family farms

It’s been a busy year. I published two books, How To Roast this past fall, the first in a series of technique books, and a big book on the Egg this past spring. I continue to love the dialogue that some of the opinion pieces here inspire; I’m gratified by the enthusiasm with which the Friday Cocktail Hour was greeted (and lamented … perhaps it will return). And people enjoy the recipes when they appear, whether from me or a guest poster. The following are the top-rated posts from 2014, and all of these categories are represented. The Opinion Posts, on our health and the importance of cooking, both reported and rant-only: Don’t Eat Healthy Carb Confusion: An internist at the Cleveland Clinic, who has a deep interest in nutrition, talked to me last summer about Read On »

Forrest Pritchard is a seventh-generation family farmer (skip this intro and read his guest post below if you’re pressed for time). His farm, Smith Meadows, is in Berryville, Virginia. The guy is clearly a lunatic, as his new book, Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers’ Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm, shows (here’s the Publishers Weekly review of the book). He’s also started a blog (because he has so much time on his hands)—read this excellent post on What NOT to Ask the Grower at Your Local Market, it’s hilarious. Thanks to our mutual friend, Carol Blymire, Forrest offered to write a guest post I’m proud to put up here. I love to write about my region’s farmers, such as livestock farmer Aaron Miller and a record store clerk who got it in his head to raise Read On »

Last summer, on assignment for Condé Nast Traveler, I visited a farm that raises ducks for foie gras, driven there along harrowing roads in southwestern France by Kate Hill. I’d never seen the practice, vilified in America, of force-feeding ducks and, being in the land of foie gras and confit de canard, I had to see for myself. The farm, Souleilles, run by Yves and Geneviève Boissière, is wide, wide open in the town of Frespech. The husband and wife were warm and welcoming and watched me take an iMovie and iPhone pix of the practice while Yves spoke at length about the process. The ducks are pasture raised most of their lives, then force fed for 14 days, beginning with a little less than half a pound twice a day, increasing to less than Read On »